Xerxes by Micheal Achonye

When things seem right…

Two hours had passed and I was getting tired of fighting. The demons did not die out in number, they multiplied. Some of the fallen ones had healed up again, while others replicated after being slashed. 

"Xerxes! To your left!" she cried, creating a barrage of wind attacks with her cane, holding me for support.

"I can't get a hit on them!" I yelled in the chaos. "They're too fast!"

They were everywhere. We were surrounded. At this point, I wished my father would swoop in to save us, but we had gotten separated during the attack. Harry, Olly, Trina and Indigo were on the ground bleeding, they needed medical care. I sighed, how shitty could this day get?

"They aren't fast," she replied. "We're getting slow."

I bent to catch my breath, I was exhausted keeping them away from us. I had created a protective barrier with my flames to shield us but it was not enough, worst of all, my powers were going down and I could feel myself slipping. 

"I'm done," I moaned, falling onto my knees.

Petra let out a soft chuckle before sitting on the ground, dropping her cane beside her.

"Don't tell me you're giving up too," she said, cracking her knuckles noisily.

I gave a shrug. "It doesn't matter. We can't win."

We had four brutally wounded people in our team who needed help, a mage who was severely injured, and then me who was without a clue on how my powers really worked. Everything I did, I did through instinct but it was not enough. Instinct could only get one so far, raw power was what we needed.

"It would take a miracle to get us out of here," I muttered, hoping the universe would cut us some slack and help us live, even if it was just for today.

The creatures were in close proximity as my protective flames were too weak to keep them at bay. I could see their ferocity from inside the dome of fire.

"Seems like they stopped attacking," Petra noted to which I observed to be true. They had stopped moving, like they were waiting for something. A huge roar broke through the forest confirming our suspicion when an even bigger beast jumped down to the ground from the trees. It crawled to the flames between us, staring me in the eye with an evil grin, baring its fangs while doing so.

"I guess this is it," I sighed, accepting my fate.

There was no use fighting, these creatures could not be killed. We had wasted our time fighting when running was our best option and even that would still not be enough. It raised its  black paw ready to strike when something zipped past me. It was too fast to see, but I saw the aftereffects. The head of the demon slid slowly before rolling onto the ground. The other creatures jumped back in fear, staring at their fallen leader. There was something different about it this time, it wasn't healing. I looked at Petra in shock when she nodded to something behind me. Turning back, I saw my father looking at his fingers with a lazy smirk on his face.

"You can thank me later," he said. "For now, we need to get out of here. There are big ones like that one on their way here. I don't have much strength left."

I stood to my feet with determination, ready to use my second chance at life, as I gave a silent thank you to the universe.

"What about the little ones?" I asked, eyeing the demons around us.

"Forget them. They're useless without the big ones anyway," he grunted, tossing Olly and Indigo over his shoulders. "The both of you should grab the others and follow me."

I carried Trina, with Petra dragging Harry along as we followed the god into the forest.

***

"Let's stop here for awhile," he mumbled, crashing onto the ground with the humans on his back.

He was exhausted and I could not blame him. He had fought more demons than the six of us combined, coming out unscathed. That was a feat worthy of emulating. I still had a long way to go, I thought, carefully laying Trina by a large tree.

"How bad is she?" Petra asked, dropping Harry on the ground.

I looked at Trina, she was pretty even with the blood on her face. I was not one to look at features and find out what they looked like, but I had to make an exception. Her short blond hair glistened with an odd glow under the shadowy forest light. Her breasts were bulging from the light armour she wore making her appear seductive. She had long legs which were covered by a tight black trouser and it gave her a resemblance to Queen, except Queen was sexier. I hit my cheek, have some respect man! 

"Xerxes." The Xaj called breaking my naughty thoughts.

"Oh yeah... her wounds," I stuttered, checking her body for any fatal injury. It felt weird touching her, I could see Queens face laughing at my nervousness right now and it made me blush. There was nothing wrong with her, but from the blood on her face, she must have hit her head pretty hard when she fell.

"It's a head injury," I let out.

"Alright," she said. "Once I'm done healing Harry I'll come over for Trina."

I sat beside the warrior watching Petra's hand glow yellow with her hand held against Harry's chest, it was beautiful and therapeutic watching her work.

Xaj was a title given to humans born with exemplary magical powers. They were magicians with the ability to control the three enchantments: dark, nature and iron. In our world you could only be a magician and control one of these, but only a Xaj had the power to control all three and use their powers to the fullest. They were different from magicians or sorcerers who had only one enchantments to their names and as such it made the Xaj's appear rare.

Looking at my father spread out on the ground snoring, I snorted with laughter.

"What's funny?" she asked without looking up. Her face was burrowed into a frown for she concentrated on healing my teammate.

"Nothing," I coughed, feigning seriousness.

She mumbled something unintelligible with me straining to hear her.

"I didn't get you," I said, keeping Trina from sliding off the tree.

"He is just too stubborn," she said out loud. I couldn't agree more with that statement, after all, it was his fault we were in this mess in the first place.

"We could have followed the mountains just as you had suggested."

"But we didn't," she hissed, removing her hands from his chest. "Harry's all healed up. He just needs rest."

She struggled to get up using the cane as a support. I could tell she was exhausted by the sweat pouring from her face and her heavy breathing. She limped over to Trina before slowly getting to the ground, biting her lips in pain.

"Don't you need to rest a bit?" I asked in concern. Her breathing was labored and I could see her trying to catch her breath to no avail.

"I'm fine," she heaved, sitting astride on the ground. "I only need to replicate what I had done to Harry five more times."

Five more times? I thought. Roman was a god who clearly didn't need any help and I could feel myself healing already.

"I don't think I or my father would need your healing abilities," I countered. "Olly, Trina and Indigo on the other hand are in desperate need of it."

She nodded, placing a glowing hand on Trina's head. Harry woke up, rubbing and straining his neck to look at us.

"He's come around," I motioned to a confused Harry as she hummed an answer.

Trina started to make some facial gestures with her blood fading away. She was out of the woods for now, I thought. I looked over at Olly and Indigo who were still passed out on my father. Olly had taken more damage than every other person in the group. His swords had cursed engravings on them and each time he fought with them, he bled from every single pore on his body. In camp, he was given the nickname 'red warrior', because he would be covered in blood by the time he was done fighting. I wondered how he was still alive when I heard a thud beside me. Turning around, Petra laid on her side with blood oozing from her hands.

"What did you do?" I asked in horror, tearing off a piece of my jacket, wrapping it around her hands to stop the bleeding. Her temperature was burning up when I touched her skin, I needed water. 

"I'm fine," she whispered softly. "I'll heal."

Harry staggered to his feet as he trudged to where we were.

"What happened to her?" he asked still rubbing his neck. 

"She went past her limits, that's what," I retorted coldly. She should have listened to me, my mind burned with anger. Trina squinted, awakening with a yawn.

"Good, you're awake," I grumbled, handing her a torn piece of jacket. "Go over there and get me some water."

She looked at me with large blue eyes which spelled confusion.

"I don't know what is going on here, but... "

"I don't have all day beauty queen," I interrupted. "I need water, now."

We had a staring contest to which she gave up, raising her hands up in submission.

"Fine," she sighed. "You win."

Taking the cloth from my hand, she walked to a pond that stood away from us.

"Hold her head up," I said to Harry, cleaning her face from the sweat and grime that had gathered on it.

She had given up her strength to help her teammates. That was a selfless act, I wanted to do that kind of thing. Little by little I was learning things that would seem insignificant, but were actually wonderful teachings. Being strong like Roman and having the healing power as well as selfless act of Petra, I needed them both.

"Help!" Trina screamed, shattering the stillness of the forest. Turning to her, I saw a water creature like an octopus, wrapping its tentacles along her body, dragging her into the water.

This wasn't what I needed right now, I imploded. 

"Keep her temperature steady!" I yelled, before rushing after the already submerged creature.